Ottawa– The Canadian Friends of Burma have learned that fourteen members of ‘88 Generation Students Group’ were sentenced to 65 years each including Min Ko Naing who is Canada’s John Humphrey Freedom Award winner.
The sentence was handed down at around 1pm (this early morning at 1 am Eastern Time in Canada) behind closed doors in Burma’s notorious Insein prison, informed by Thai-based Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (Burma). In a separate hearing, labour activist Su Su Nway, another John Humphrey Freedom Award winner, was also sentenced to 12 years and 6 months.
“We heard this news this morning, which is totally unfair, unjust and disturbing. Canada should not be silence and must take further action,” said Tin Maung Htoo, the executive director of Canadian Friends of Burma.
Canada, along with other international community, responded with a toughest economic sanction against the Burmese military regime when a peaceful ‘Saffron Revolution’ was brutally cracked down. These lengthy sentences are directly linked to the activists’ role in the ‘Saffron Revolution’ and coincide with one year anniversary of this movement. All of them already served more than half of their lives in prison for their role in democracy movement.
“These verdicts further cement our proposition that the Burmese military regime would never relax its muscle on the repression. As international community, we have no choice, but to press harder,” Tin added. He said Canada has a number of leverage left to increase its diplomatic and economic measure and could also strengthen the spirit and work of the Burmese democratic forces by providing material support.
This year Canada is again a co-sponsor of a Burma resolution at the United Nations General Assembly (UNSC). A similar resolution is passed each year since 1990, with no follow-up and action – no heed and regard by the Burmese military junta.